Protecting snow leopards: Asia's elusive mountain ghosts

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Photos:Big cats on the roof of the world

A snow leopard peers back curiously at a camera trap in Qinghai Province, Tibetan Plateau, China. Known locally as "mountain ghosts," snow leopards inhabit the major mountain ranges of Asia.

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Photos:Big cats on the roof of the world

A portrait of a snow leopard at an unknown location. Only 4,500 to 10,000 of the elusive cats roam roughly 800,000 square miles of precipitous terrain from southern Siberia in the north to India in the south, and east to west from Uzbekistan to Yunnan, China.

Sheep and goats in a predator-proofed corral built by Panthera as part of a community-based conservancy project in Alichur, Eastern Pamirs, Tajikistan. The animals can pose a threat to the livelihoods of local herders.

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Photos:Big cats on the roof of the world

A remote camera captures a photo of an endangered snow leopard on a mountain pass in Hemis National Park, Ladakh, India.

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Photos:Big cats on the roof of the world

A snow leopard peers back at a camera trap set in Hemis National Park in Ladakh, India.

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The night sky above Suojia monastery, Tibetan plateau, Qinghai province. Panthera has worked with Buddhist monks in the region to help monitor and protect the animals.

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A monk gives prayer for sick yaks at a monastery on the Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai Province, China

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Woman with a child, Tibetan plateau, Qinghai province, China. Snow leopards inhabit a diverse realm -- monarchies, republics and communist states where many religions are practiced.

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This valley in Suojia in Qinghai Province, China is typical snow leopard range.

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Photos:Big cats on the roof of the world

The border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The region is part of a new community-based conservation project supported by big cat group Panthera.

Members of the conservation group "Ming Teke" discuss with Panthera's Zairbek Kubanychbekov where to place camera traps to monitor snow leopards and their prey.

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Tom McCarthy of the big cat conservation group, Panthera, has spent a lifetime working to protect and conserve Asia's snow leopards, which inhabit Asia's major mountain ranges from Uzbekistan to China to northern India.